Ellamentary School Sweater

The sweater for Small Child #1 is finally finished and was shipped off to D.C. this week. Hopefully I will get a picture of her wearing the sweater soon. The photos I took are terrible, mostly due to the gloomy February daylight my camera had to work with. The color is not accurate at all.




The infamous sleeves that gave me so much trouble.

The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple, and it really was quite simple. Had I not altered the gauge, and then had I not been an idiot about adjusting the sleeve decreases to compensate, this would have flown off the needles. Now that I've knit a children's raglan, I think I am ready to try and tackle an adult-sized garment.

Yarn
Cascade 220 Superwash in Army Green

Needles
Size 8, 5.0 mm and size 5, 3.75 mm

Pattern
Children's Neckdown Cardigan #981 by Diane Soucy
Knitting Pure & Simple

Go Blue Beanie

In case you are wondering, NOT M Go Blue!

Another finished object!



This one was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't blogged about it yet. I made it for Isaac, my principal's adopted-from-Russia son. It's a little big. Isaac has a pretty big head, but I think this hat is big enough to cover his eyes. Had I knit eye holes into it, he might even be able to wear it Dumb Donald style. Yes, I am showing my age. I also think that Dumb Donald would be a ridiculously easy but cool Halloween costume, but it would only work if you had a sidekick to play Fat Albert. Anyway, the brim is just going to have to be folded up for a little while.



This was the first time I had used Meg Swansen's jogless jog, and I think it worked pretty well. You can see a slight diagonal line, but hopefully it won't be noticed by Muggles.

While I'm at it, I must put a plug in for Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. It's a great basic pattern book that I recommend as a first book for budding (pun totally intended) knitters. Aside from hats, the book has patterns for mittens (from which you could also do fingerless mitts), gloves, tams, scarves, socks, vests, a cardigan, and a pullover. The best part of the book is that you can use any gauge yarn. Just knit a gauge swatch and follow the charts for your size and gauge. In the hat section, Budd includes five edging choices (single rib, double rib, rolled, straight, and picot—I chose the double rib) and six toppers (pompom, tassel, bobble, I-cord topknot, corkscrew fringe, and crochet loop—I chose the topknot).

It's December weather here. It's snowing, and it's sticking. It's time to make a vat of soup and get under my flannel blanket. Today the soup will be an easy bean soup from a mix, but I bought a butternut squash today, and this recipe is on the horizon.

Yarn
Caron Simply Soft in Dark Country Blue
Caron Simply Soft Brites in Lemonade

Needles
Size 6, 4.0 mm

Pattern
Basic Hat Pattern from The Knitter's Book of Handy Patterns by Ann Budd